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2008 FEH broke down

I purchased a 2008 FEH in March. When the car had 500 miles on it I took a trip on a day that was hotter than normal - low 90's. After 20 miles I got the "stop safely" message along with the exclamation mark in the triangle warning light and the car cut off. I coasted over to the shoulder, turned the car off, and then back on and it started with no warning lights. I thought this must be a fluke so I went on down the road. The same problem happened again a couple of miles later. I then decided it was best to head home. After about 10 more episodes, I did get home. I took the car in and the dealer diagnosed it as the electric water pump for the electric motor cooling system was inoperative. They replaced it. I thought it was weird to have such a failure with a new car, but it sounded plausible. No further problem for the next 1500 miles.

A couple of weeks ago I head out on another trip and again it happens to be in the low 90s. I get 60 miles from home and the same problem as above happens. This time it takes me hours to get back home. Figuring the problem was definitely heat related, we pulled over at a rest stop for an hour and sure enough I was able to go about 20 miles before the thing failed again. Needless to say I am not happy.

I took the car in to the dealer. They checked it out and tried to get it to fail for a week. They said they were consulting with Ford engineers. Finally last week they got it to fail. The diagnosis is that there is something wrong with the electric motor that is causing overheating. The fix is to replace the electric motor. To add insult to injury they say that it will take 2 weeks to get the new motor from Ford.

So here I have a brand new $30K car, getting its main hybrid drive replaced by a dealer who says they have never seen this before -- which obviously means they have no experience replacing the motor. So how confident should I be in this course of action? Suggestions?

I purchased a 2008 FEH in March. When the car had 500 miles on it I took a trip on a day that was hotter than normal - low 90's. After 20 miles I got the "stop safely" message along with the exclamation mark in the triangle warning light and the car cut off. I coasted over to the shoulder, turned the car off, and then back on and it started with no warning lights. I thought this must be a fluke so I went on down the road. The same problem happened again a couple of miles later. I then decided it was best to head home. After about 10 more episodes, I did get home. I took the car in and the dealer diagnosed it as the electric water pump for the electric motor cooling system was inoperative. They replaced it. I thought it was weird to have such a failure with a new car, but it sounded plausible. No further problem for the next 1500 miles.

A couple of weeks ago I head out on another trip and again it happens to be in the low 90s. I get 60 miles from home and the same problem as above happens. This time it takes me hours to get back home. Figuring the problem was definitely heat related, we pulled over at a rest stop for an hour and sure enough I was able to go about 20 miles before the thing failed again. Needless to say I am not happy.

I took the car in to the dealer. They checked it out and tried to get it to fail for a week. They said they were consulting with Ford engineers. Finally last week they got it to fail. The diagnosis is that there is something wrong with the electric motor that is causing overheating. The fix is to replace the electric motor. To add insult to injury they say that it will take 2 weeks to get the new motor from Ford.

So here I have a brand new $30K car, getting its main hybrid drive replaced by a dealer who says they have never seen this before -- which obviously means they have no experience replacing the motor. So how confident should I be in this course of action? Suggestions?

WOW,this is extremely rare and the first failure I've heard of. My thoughts are the first overheating caused by the bad electronic coolant pump may have caused the damage to the motor or broke down (burned) the transmission fluid which caused the problem. At any rate, if anything other than reflashing the Transmission Control Module is needed to repair the eCVT, it has to be replaced.

Ford will most likely send a eCVT expert to that dealership to confirm the problem. If in fact the motor is bad, they must replace the entire ECVT. This will require removing the engine and eCvt as a unit from the vehicle to change the eCVT. Love to get a video of that work or at least watch.

Sorry for the breakdown, but Ford will take this problem very seriously and you should be in good hands for that reason.

2008 FEH broke down

Follow-up on the problem with my 2008 FEH that I reported above. The dealer was able to reproduce the failure. They consulted with Ford engineers and determined the transmission was overheating and needed to be replaced. It took 2 weeks to get the new transmission. After replacing the transmission the tech noticed that one of the coolant pumps was not working. Checking the power he noted it had power but a bad ground. He traced the circuit and found a wire splice that had not been crimped at all at the factory. The wire was making intermittent connection. This wiring fault was very likely the problem the whole time and not the transmission itself. I have the car back now intact and have not had further problems. I'll post again if the overheating problem returns -- but I'm hopeful that the root cause has been identified and fixed.

Follow-up on the problem with my 2008 FEH that I reported above. The dealer was able to reproduce the failure. They consulted with Ford engineers and determined the transmission was overheating and needed to be replaced. It took 2 weeks to get the new transmission. After replacing the transmission the tech noticed that one of the coolant pumps was not working. Checking the power he noted it had power but a bad ground. He traced the circuit and found a wire splice that had not been crimped at all at the factory. The wire was making intermittent connection. This wiring fault was very likely the problem the whole time and not the transmission itself. I have the car back now intact and have not had further problems. I'll post again if the overheating problem returns -- but I'm hopeful that the root cause has been identified and fixed.

Thanks for the update as I was very interested in what caused the problem. I'm sure it was no walk in the park for the Ford Hybrid Tech that had to do the work, and he will be talking about that for a long time.

Interesting information

Interesting information here. I just dropped my 2008 FEH at the dealership this morning for the same issue after 39,000 miles. They just called me and said they found a bad ground which they fixed and they reprogrammed the PCM. I have been getting 32-33 MPH with my 4WD version which I think is pretty good for this size vehicle. I have had no other issues and love this vehicle. It does make you wonder why they are having ground faults on these - almost sounds like a process error in the factory. I hope this fixes my issue, as you can tell by my mileage I just about live in this vehicle. I hope Ford doesn't let this get out of control. For those of us who believe in Ford quality and support them with our purchases we need to know these things will be fixed for good.

I've got the same problem.

I have a 2007 FEH too and my

I have a 2007 FEH too and my "Service Soon" light came on last night. I called my Ford dealer and their certified technician won't be in until Thursday. Hopefully, the technician can make some sense to of this vague warning than the service person who field my phone call.

To those who had a "stop

To those who had a "stop safely now" warning, any luck/follow-up? I was about to leave the shore this morning on a 2 hour ride back home. I turned on my car, I went to pull into the driveway to turn around, the "stop safely now" warning came on and the car immediately died. I tried restarting a few times to see if I could get enough to get it to the side of the road and the same thing kept happening. I had it towed to the dealership and its now sitting in their night drop location. It was early in the morning, the car ran only for about 30 seconds so I don't think it was a heat related issue.

The coolant pump on my 2005

The coolant pump on my 2005 FEH (36,500 miles) was just diagnosed as failed, and replaced. The problem presented differently. I first got an "engine overheating" warning and kept driving to the next highway exit. Then the "stop safely" warning came on but the car did not cut out. I pulled over and let the engine cool and was able to drive home slowly off-highway without any warning signals. I will update if I get further problems like yours.

I have a 07 FEH that

I have a 07 FEH that suddenly would not start early in the week. I had driven 150 miles, no problem. Parked in a lot outside a mall for a few hours, came back and it would not start. It was hot that day, perhaps low to mid 90s. I did get the "stop safely now" warning. After 15 minutes or so, the car started-but only briefly. After another 20 minutes it started and I was able to drive the 150 miles back home with no problem. The car stayed parked for a couple of days and then I went to drive it last night and it made it 2 blocks before the "stop safely now" warning appeared and I lost all power. Filled it with new gas today and it seemed fine. I currently live in south Texas and the average temp during this time of the year is over 90. I have had the car 1 1/2 years in the same location and this is the first time this has happened. The car made it 6 miles today before the warning and loss of power-again. I've had it towed to Ford dealership where I purchased the car. They will not be able to look at it until Monday, but does this sound like it might be an easy fix (i.e., coolant pump, heat sensor malfunction)?
Will repost when I hear from service department in a few days.
Thanks in advance.